“Confidence is There” for Comtoyou After Topping Spa Test

Comtoyou Racing team manager Francois Verbist says the “confidence is there” for the Audi squad as it prepares for its CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa debut off the back of leading the official pre-event test.

The Belgian touring car outfit added GT3 to its portfolio this year and operates three Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, including one in Pro for Christopher Haase, Gilles Magnus and Frederic Vervisch.

Last month’s two-day test saw Comtoyou lead three out of four sessions, with its No. 21 Gold Cup Audi setting the outright fastest lap in the hands of Max Hofer.

The No. 11 car that races in Pro topped both sessions on the opening day, meanwhile.

Verbist told Sportscar365 that the result was good for the team’s confidence, although he is also conscious of the pitfalls that can occur at a race with 70 GT3 cars entered.

“The test day is a point, but the first 20 minutes [of Free Practice] were already stopped by red flags, so it’s more linked to being on track in the right place at the right time,” he said.

“The speed of the drivers will be there, and we basically drive the same configuration on the cars. After the test, we analyzed quite a lot and did some homework before coming here.

“The confidence is there. But realistically we can have issues, or something related to traffic.

“We feel we have a really strong lineup and a good chance, but we still have to make it.

“I believe we have a lineup to be able to follow the top 10. Afterwards, it’s all about strategy and surviving the war on-track, because 70 cars will give a lot of overtaking and changing [track] conditions.”

The No. 11 machine is racing under the Audi Sport Team Comtoyou banner, which denotes increased factory support compared to the other GTWC Europe rounds.

Because of its factory-assisted status, the chassis is provided by Audi Sport rather than being the privately-owned car that led half of the official test sessions.

“It’s all about preparation,” said Verbist. “The same setup is done on it [as the Comtoyou-owned car] but it takes some time to adapt it.

“We had no chance to run with it in the test because they were close to the Nürburgring 24 and it is the [Audi Sport Team Car Collection] car that did Nürburgring. There wasn’t any time to rebuild it.”

Nonetheless, Verbist is noticing the benefits of having extra Audi Sport crew members in the Comtoyou garage.

“For sure it’s a help, with the weather crew and technical staff,” he said.

“We have people who we wouldn’t normally have, like an electrician and gearbox supplier. These kinds of things help in case of issues and strategy, if needed.”

Haase: Test Setup Provides “Good Fallback” Option

The prevalence of red flags during the test days meant that Comtoyou, like many other teams, didn’t complete its full checklist of items, although Haase told Sportscar365 that it established a “fallback” setup option that it can roll out if necessary.

Differences in the weather conditions between the test and this weekend are adding to the challenge of creating the best setup.

“We were happy with the test, but coming to the race week is always a bit different,” said Haase, who was part of the last Audi lineup to win the race in 2017.

“We have different conditions: it’s much more humid, which changes the approach. We have to see how the car is behaving.

“You end up with a theoretical setup that you want to try, but we could not hook every single point because of the red flags we had. I think we will try something, let’s see if it works or not. But we definitely have a very good fallback.

“This humidity will also play a role. We are now in the window of GT3 cars where you have to keep in mind the humidity and air volume. It’s already playing into the setup game.

“We have to keep in mind how the weather will develop during the race. You can’t be in the window every hour: it’s impossible. But most of the time the setup should be in the window to perform.”